Receive postcards from us

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Homecamp, a response to all things poorly made

Stephanie Pajik

Outdoor goods specialist

AHB first got to know Homecamp in the summer of 2015. That summer, we did ‘getting out of town with some new friends’ a little differently.

Homecamp tents and supplies are built to last, and actually, we reckon that just like us, they look and feel better once you get them out in the elements.It’s a simple philosophy. Quality goods will last the journey, and inspire more.Homecamp’s Stephanie Pajic and Doron Francis are based in Melbourne, Australia.

“We are surrounded by breathtaking beauty and an abundance of opportunities to get out amongst it.”

Do you remember the first time you went camping?

Yes, it was with my parents and some friends at The Grampians. I remember the kangaroos!

Can you tell us how Homecamp got started?

Homecamp came about because we felt that most of the outdoor brands in Australia were either too daggy, too technical, too blokey or worse, supplied poorly made gear. It’s frustrating to buy kit that breaks in the first season so we wanted Homecamp to be a reaction to rampant consumer culture – encourage people to think about the products they buy and hopefully invest in products that will stand the test of time.

It’s frustrating to buy kit that breaks in the first season so we wanted Homecamp to be a reaction to rampant consumer culture – encourage people to think about the products they buy and hopefully invest in products that will stand the test of time.

We had owned a canvas bell tent for a few years that we took to music festivals and camping trips and every time we brought it out we would get heaps of comments on it. We started thinking it would be fun to design and manufacture our own version of the bell tent under a brand and ethos that we believed in.

Travel and exploring new places is obviously a massive inspiration and we have been lucky enough to visit some of the worlds most remote wildernesses. However we currently live in the city so really any contact with nature without distraction is a welcome one. Even a micro adventure midweek can be life enhancing – nature is a channel to health and wellbeing.

What’s are the essential elements of every Homecamp tent?

Simplicity, strong build, ease of set up and elegant design.

How has Homecamp grown since you began?

We only launched in December 2014 so we are still in our infancy but we have a lot on the horizon including developing more of our products and also representing some really interesting heritage brands that are little heard of outside of their own country.

On that tack – is design another part of your background?

We wish we were designers! Whilst we are not designers ourselves, we both have a good eye and can appreciate what good design means. We look out for the best designers to work with and we’re currently a new range of Homecamp products which is exciting.

Here in Australia we are surrounded by breathtaking beauty and an abundance of opportunities to get out amongst it – often people don’t really know whats on their own doorstep.

What’s your number one camping spot – if you’re willing to reveal it?

Close to home, we love the campground at a place called ‘King Parrot Cottages’ in Pennyroyal about 25 minutes in land from Lorne, Victoria. It’s a secluded little spot on the base of an amazing property, surrounded by tall trees and backs on to the Ottways National Park. It feels remote but has nice toilets and hot showers which make the whole experience more pleasant.

Mount Buffalo is also a favorite – especially if you take the time to hike out to some of the more remote campsites such as the Mount Mcleod.

Doron just came back from camping next to the Wonnangatta river about an hour from Eaglevale in the Victorian High country which looked absolutely incredible.Here in Australia we are surrounded by breathtaking beauty and an abundance of opportunities to get out amongst it – often people don’t really know whats on their own doorstep.

When you’re out on an adventure, what are you looking for? Seclusion? Scenery? Trails? All of the above?

Probably a mixture of the above. I love a good up hill walking trail where you can enjoy a beautiful view as your reward. Beautiful scenery is a must, but this could be a mountain range, a beach or a desert – we’re not too fussy! Being secluded and removed from other people is also pretty important and luckily in Australia that’s relatively easy to find.

Storytelling’s rife around the campfire, but you’ve got them all over your website too. It’s awesome to see people share their stories. Do you get inspired by your customers?

We’ve been so thrilled with the response to Homecamp and all of the people out there who want to enjoy our products. We’ve been able to work with some really talented creative people who use nature as inspiration, and that in turn inspires us. What we are really loving is seeing more and more young people embrace the outdoors.

I can’t remember when the word ‘glamping’ came about, but it’s definitely become super popular more recently. What’s your take on a little bit of luxury in the wild?

Whilst we don’t love that word, we find that we have to use it from time to time given it’s become so well known. The events side of our business is definitely about ‘glamping’ – we set up our tents up beautifully and take care of everything for our guests. I think this is a great way for people who wouldn’t normally camp to enjoy the experience. For our online store, we are more about quality and comfort rather than anything overly glamorous but we definitely think that camping needn’t be about roughing it. There should always be time to create a cosy tent, put effort into a proper set up and enjoy delicious food and adult beverages.

Drumroll please… How fast can you set up a tent?

I think we have it down to about 12 minutes for one of our 5m bell tents!

It seems to me that this is the golden age of amateur photography. How do professionals, that is those who are committed documentary, editorial, photojournalists, how do we go about telling stories that are convincing and compelling in a visually saturated environment?

National Geographic photographer Sam Abell has defined his career with patience. There is no dull section of a Sam Abell photograph, the frame is layered from back to front with compelling imagery. This can be a slow process, it can take days, weeks, or in some cases months for the right opportunity to present itself.

There were many rafts over the course of the four years and all were built with salvaged materials. The construction boom happening in NYC in the mid-2000s provided a lot of scrap material that we pulled from dumpsters.

I love the unexpected, uncontrollable moments that just happen. That’s why I suppose spontaneity is really the crux of the best art I’ve done. That, and I just really love the process of making things.

There are countless stories that tell of a young man, lost and uncertain, who sets out on a whirlwind adventure and figures out who he really is. It is a sad reality that amongst the great classic adventure stories, very few (if any) of the protagonists are female.

I perceive my photographic work through a director’s eyes, however, the difference in my vision, is that the whole world is a stage. It’s an intense sensation of “limitless”. I like to recreate a fantastic universe of dreams and travels.

Arriving back in Marrakech, I felt like I had truly been to outer space and back; I felt like I had seen landscapes that could not exist on our planet. I felt like I had stepped both back and out of time and had seen and briefly experienced a different way of living, of one without time and without fear.

Photography is a fiction. It’s a frame of a film which hasn’t been made, or a line from a forgotten poem. I always create in camera as much as possible, because it is also about the experience of what is in front of you at the time.

It’s surprising to see a lot of people’s living spaces of a certain age – what they surround themselves with and how they decorate their houses. They’re like living museums. It’s often an incredible level of chaos and madness that they live amongst

I use that same word when I talk about travel – luxury. It’s such a white man’s headache you know, like, it’s not hard. People say “How did you do that? That’s so hard.” And I think, “Well there are some cold days, some warm days, you know..” But it’s my own choice, and it’s a privilege entirely.

Porter Yates is a photographer, and Dan Melamid is a director. They have been friends for many years, and both share a passion for travel and visual storytelling. Through Witness.Earth they have collaborated to develop a new style of photographic presentation to music.

Thematically, (Katrin’s) work is concerned with ideas of Australian regional and remote communities in socio-economic transition in the 21st century; experientially, it is an exploration of photographer’s familiarity with her new home country.

Wild & Precious brings together treasures from a series of road trips travelled over 5 years by photographer Jesse Burke and his daughter Clover. It’s a reminder that exploration is timeless, and infinite, as should be the wild.

I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the ocean, and I think a large part of my focus in documenting it focuses on my curiosity and admiration for it… I’ve been circled by bullsharks, thrown over the falls at Teahupoo, ravaged by swarms of sea lice, bounced off the reef at Pipeline, had a jet ski thrown over my head in Australia…

My driving force is to discover places and creations that I personally find intriguing. As for what I’m trying to communicate to an audience, it is a more focused critical perspective, something that I will develop over time.

While cycling about in remote South Australia Tom was bitten on the neck by a reback spider and, after suffering through the night, made it to hospital the following day to be dosed up on two bags of anti-venom. Another time, while hiking Tasmania’s magnificent Overland Track through constant rainfall, a leech found its way quietly into his mouth.

At the age of 22, Larry Niehues packed his bags and headed to Mcallen in south Texas. Following the footsteps of Bruce Davidson, William Eggleston and Dennis Hopper, he embarked on his own great American road trip.

I struggle a little bit with my attraction to old things, but I like small towns and they are usually a little behind the times. At least landscapes are timeless. I can’t be accused of nostalgia when photographing nature.

Creativity runs through your veins. Photography is just a way to capture what you need to express. You see something that moves you, it doesn’t necessarily have to be beautiful, and you take a picture of it. Creativity is tied to anything that makes you tick. In my case it is the outdoors.

Ittoqqortoormiit is one of the most insulated towns in the world. Far away from all touristic highways and only accessible by helicopter. Two supply ships a year, and if you forget to lodge a request you must wait six more months for this.

I try to approach these trips and films with an open mind as to what I might find. I think its really important to spend time with the people, and let them tell you about what they would like to tell you before filming them or attempting to interview them.

Maybe in some of these places there has never been human presence, I access them with my kayak or by boat. Sometimes I’m lucky, and I go alone, sometimes I go with my groups. Either way I’m very lucky, I can see other worlds within this world. I’m very lucky to experience this.

We want to make people aware about how difficult the living and working conditions in certain parts of the world can be, the fact that not everybody was born into the bright side of life but also that travelling to far away places is possible – through photographs.

The Family Acid sounds something like an adult swim cartoon, but the truth is so much more awesome. They are in fact responsible for some of the most visually intriguing and detailed documentation of the counter cultural movement of the 1970’s on, out of the U.S and beyond.

That was a life changing time with two wonderful women and their amazing father who are dear friends of mine. They are sailors but it was a first for me to be out at sea for two weeks. The best way to explore any coast on a magic carpet ride!

It was an amazing, incredible sight to see hundreds of people on this beach. The horses went in first, four or five horses into the water, then the saints were immersed, and then everybody else went in after that to take the ritual bath.

I make an effort to let everyone I photograph know what I’m up to. I want them to understand where I am coming from. I think when they meet me they realise I’m not out to expose or judge them. Who am I to expose something or someone anyway?

This series is the first time I’ve ventured into photojournalism. The opportunity fell into place; I happened to be at the right place at the right time. I wasn’t prepared for the evident increase in poaching and anti-poaching activity this time around, and that was a shock. It’s a strange series to reflect on.